Sweet cornmeal biscuits

A few weeks ago, I had a lovely lunch at Dovetail, an Upper West Side restaurant that serves what I would call creative comfort food. The meal was good but the one thing that stood out for me (besides the excellent company) was the bread they served—it was a small, sweet loaf made with cornmeal that was by far the highlight of the meal.

Now, I’ve long said that cornbread made with sugar is no longer bread—it’s cake. That isn’t to say that it’s not delicious, but don’t go serving it alongside a bowl of beans or a plate of greens because sweet cornbread is best saved for dessert. (And I’m not alone in this belief.)

That said, while it doesn’t have a role during the main course, sweet cornbread at the end of the meal can be a wonderful thing. And for some reason I’ve always felt like it’s healthier than your usual dessert, even though with all the sugar and butter involved, it’s certainly not as virtuous as eating, say, an apple.

But perhaps my feeling goes back to when I was young. Whenever my family went to Luby’s, I was never allowed to get dessert. But I was allowed to get a sweet corn muffin to eat at the end of the meal, which in my mind was just as good if not better than any other dessert I might have chosen. Dovetail’s sweet cornbread was no different. It would have been out of place paired with chili, but since my main course included French toast, the sweet cornbread was just fine. And while I usually make my cornbread Texas style without sugar, there’s nothing wrong with having a sweet cornbread in your repertoire for either dessert or for pleasing your Yankee friends. Dovetail’s had a soft, creamy texture that definitely made me want to bake it at home, so I asked for the recipe and, surprisingly, they gave it to me.

When I looked at the recipe, I started to laugh. No wonder it was so good—in it was over a cup of sugar and a cup of butter. There weren’t any eggs, so it wasn’t quite cake but instead more like a very sweet cornmeal biscuit. The recipe also called for cheddar cheese, but the amount was so minute that in proportion to the other ingredients, its sharp tangy flavor was lost. Not to mention, this cornbread would be best topped with fruit and cream or slathered in lots of honey—and neither one of those applications are made better with cheese.

If you like sweet cornbread, you will love this. But even if you agree with me that there should never be sugar in cornbread, you might also enjoy this because, well, it’s not truly cornbread. Instead, think of it as cake or a sweet biscuit. I know I will. And when those springtime strawberries arrive in a few weeks, this cornbread will make a dandy shortbread.

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Sweet cornmeal biscuits

Servings8

AuthorAdapted by Lisa Fain from a Dovetail recipe

Ingredients

3cupsall-purpose flour

1 1/4cupscornmeal

1 1/4cupssugar

2 1/2teaspoonsbaking powder

1 1/4teaspoonsbaking soda

1 1/4teaspoonsalt

1/2cupcheddar cheese

2sticks cold butter, cubed

1cupbuttermilk

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Mix the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Work the cheese and butter into the flour mixture with your hands or a pastry blender until it resembles pea-sized crumbs. Add the buttermilk and stir until dough comes together.

Chill for one hour. Roll out into 3/4” thickness and cut out desired shapes.

Luby’s RULES, I heard they were closing down but I hope they don’t go the way of Wyatt’s! I really miss eating all that good honest food, usually on the Luann Platter with everything you need. *sigh* God bless Texas…

Anyway, nothing beats a good yellow hunk of cornbread with lots of butter and a bowl of chili with melted cheese on top.

I’m a native Georgian and I prefer a sweeter cornbread. I didn’t think sweet cornbread was a Yankee thing, just another option like sweet or unsweet tea. I will digress and say my opinion about sweet tea is a strong one. In the South, you shouln’t have to even indicate sweet or unsweet. When you ask for iced tea, it should come sweet.

Back on topic, I like the sweeter bread because it’s a good balance to the saltiness that some Southern favorites like collard greens can have or it can compliment sweeter dishes like candied yams or creamed corn. For savory cornbread, I like it in the form of hoe cakes with their crispy edges and softer middle.

I think that savory cornbread needs a little sugar, but only about a teaspoon full in a whole pan of cornbread. A touch of sugar highlights the corn flavor without making it dessert. (I also put a spoonful of sugar in the water when I’m boiling corn to acheive the same effect.)

I definitely agree with you that corn bread or muffins made with a cup of sugar are desserts! It’s corn cake, not corn bread!

I’m from Houston and we always had savory cornbread but I do actually like sweet cornbread a lot…but mostly cause it’s like dessert as you say. I always liked bread for dessert anyhow. Growing up, my grandparents would let us have a snack before bed when we stayed with them. For my grandfather and my brother this was normally ice cream, but for Maw Maw and me it was always bread and butter. Of course back then it was Mrs. Bairds and margarine, which is not something I even like today. Give me real bread and real butter please! And can I just say, Luby’s has the best macaroni and cheese on the planet. Oh my god. It is amazing.

Considering that I used to get the frightfully green jello cubes for dessert at Luby’s, I think you made the right choice with the sweet corn muffin. Although I am on the “cornbread should always be savory” side of the fence 🙂

oh now…I’m a firm believer that sweet cornbread definitely goes with a bowl of beans. Not super sweet mind you but just enough to give it a touch of sweet. It’s the cornbread I grew up on in Texas. I love super sweet at the end of the meal definitely…with lots of butter! But of course I love just about any cornbread as well!

Well i have never met a pan of cornbread that I didnt like. My mom always put a tablespoon of sugar in her cornbread and I do the same. She also put a little sugar in her fresh veggies when she was cooking them. She was just a great country cook and I sure would love to walk in her house and smell beans andcornbread cooking. It is still one of my favorite meals and she has been gone for 6 years now. Miss her every single day.

Since moving to Mississippi from Houston, I have longed for Luby’s mac and cheese. Out of sheer desperation, I googled the recipe a year or so back and found one that tastes right. If you have no luck that way, I know for sure it is in the “Luby’s 50th Anniversary Recipe Collection Cookbook.

In my Oklahoma home I add sugar to my cornbread..have in the past and always will. Not enough to make it a sweet (like cake) but just a hint of sweetness. A must is yellow cornmeal – none of that white meal! Must be cooked in a very old cast iron skillet for the best taste.

I adore cornbread … all types, sweet and cakey, savory and crumbly, with cheese w/o cheese, with stuff in them or plain … I’m happy to eat them all! I love these little heart shaped goodies, and am drooling that they have both cheese and buttermilk in them. YUM!

Wow! I haven’t seen this much fur fly since the Dixie Chicks said they didn’t much care for Mr… oh never mind.

I always look forward to a new post from you, but I too have to disagree with the sugar thing.

My (Texan) grandmother used to make the best cornbread I’ve ever had. She made individual “ears” in cast iron molds. Even with years of seasoning on those molds, she would add a little bacon grease so the cornbread wouldn’t stick. The bacon grease would fry the edges of the cornbread and the sugar would caramelize to make beautiful rich brown crust.

The great thing about those little “ears” of cornbread is the high ratio of “crust” to total cornbread.

I first had corn bread for the first time last December in the US along with collard greens and fried chicken and it was sweet. I like the idea of a savoury corn bread. I am going to check your archives to see if I can find a recipe. I made Ina Garten’s Jalapeno-Cheddar cornbread the other day.

Cornbread was a staple on our grade-school lunch menu. A good size semi-sweet square alternating some weeks with a couple of packets of Saltines, enchiladas TWO Wednesdays a month. Only in the Rio Grande Valley…I’m guessin’? I rarely packed lunch. 🙂

How on earth did you know I was going to come to you for a cornbread recipe, and then I click over and lookee there, it’s cornbread! We’re making “white” chili with some of the awesome beans I just got shipped from Steve tomorrow night, and your cornbread will be alongside it. Mighty fine company, no? See you soon!

Not a cornbread purist. Cook in a dish or a cast iron pan, as long as you generously coat it with crisco lard or bacon grease and preheat the dish. I use Martha White’s in the blue box to which I add 1/2 cup of canned or frozen sweet corn and 2 finely diced and seeded jalapenos. Everyone loves it.

i ate at this North Carolinian reto many years ago where the food was out of control delish. the owner/chef, Ms. Mildred was so loved that Good Morning America flew her up to feature on a cooking segment. The one thing I remember is the bread! good Lawd!!! this recipe reminded of that wonderful time!

I’m from California. I grew up eating proper cornbread, per your definition. But I worked in a TexMex restaurant that made a sweet corn cake that they served with platters of fajitas, etc. I like them both. I’ve never thought of making the sweet version at home, but this is a great idea. Thanks for reminding me that we’re so close to berry season. I CAN’T WAIT!! I’ll try this then!

The only kind of cornbread I enjoy is the sweet kind, unless the cornbread is soaking up chili. I like my cornbread just slightly sweet and use honey for my sweetner. It also has the benefit of extending the life of the cornbread for an extra day.

Lisa,I’m going to have to try these. I’ve been on a biscuit kick lately, but I haven’t really been able to find a recipe I love. And I also just got done making some cornmeal cookies, so this sounds like the perfect mix of the two. Thanks so much!Take care,Kylie

I guess there are still those heavy aluminum (?) cornbread pans in the shape of Texas or Oklahoma. I prefer my Griswolds (cast iron).

Out in the Van Horn area, I saw a fellow put chopped raw jalapeňos with the buttermilk and aigs in a blendor and use that as the fluid ingredients… made the cornbread appear to be a pale green, but it was extremely good with a bowl of frijoles.

Wow, I just found this blog and I am so so happy! I moved to Savannah from Austin, TX about 6 months ago and have been so homesick, mostly for the food! In search of a King Ranch Chicken recipe, I find a blog stockpiled with many delicious foods from my homeland. Hurray! Thank you for providing me with much needed Texas yummies.

I was just surfing around some food websites and came across this article mentioning you in the Times of London. Wow, you’re even known across the pond now! I think you should be rated much better than #32, however.

I happen to like both sweet and savory…I posted a cake-like version on foodbuzz.com under “sautegrillfryfunnygirl” and the recipe is called vanilla cornbread…Also, I would love for you to check out my website, fellow Texas girlfriend!

I do understand what you mean about sweet cornbread. But I do like mine on the sweet side so I just worked a recipe that kinda finds that mid ground of Sweet and Hot water cornbread.Thanks so much for your blog I live in Los Angeles and can so relate to all of your recipes

Gotta weigh in – I’m in the sweet camp. We always had cornbread muffins with things like chili, beef stew, and collard greens when I was growing up. The sweet paired with the savory is what made it so good!

I absolutely love your blog! I found it a few days ago when I was searching for a carne guisada recipe and all your recipes seem to hit close to home! I'm from West Texas and miss that home-cooking so badly.

I also totally agree with you that sweet cornbread is considered cake! Can't eat it with red beans, greens, or cabbage like you can unsweetened corn bread! Just my opinion but can't wait to try the rest of your recipes. Thanks for this blog!

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